A new study by the Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC) at Teachers College Columbia University launched today at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, finds that aging artists are models for society especially as the workforce changes to accommodate multiple careers and baby boomers enter the retirement generation.
Evidence for this claim is provided in the first needs assessment of aging performing artists in the New York and Los Angeles metro areas now available in the RCAC report: STILL KICKING - Aging Performing Artists in NYC & LA Metro Areas: Information on Artists IV. The study is the first of its kind to understand how performing artistswho often reach artistic maturity and artistic satisfaction as they ageare supported and integrated within their communities, and how their network structures change over time. It complements the RCACs 2007 study of aging visual artists, published as ABOVE GROUND. The artists studied are actors, dancers, choreographers, musicians and singers.
Aging artists belie stereotypes: They are passionate about their work, and put the good news and bad news into it. They feel validated as artists and rank high in life satisfaction and self-esteem; 86% in NYC and 92% in LA would choose to be an artist again. Nor are aging artists isolated: More than half of them communicate daily or weekly with other artists, and more than half continue to be working artists and do not expect to retire until they are 90.